Tag it Thursdays: I occasionally get tagged by fellow bloggers to complete various tags. Once a month I will post my response. Please, feel free to tag yourself if any of these tags interest you!

This month’s tag:

The Reader Problems Tag

I was tagged by Summer @XingSings wayyyy back in July to do  this fun tag. We actually share a lot of the same problems it seems 😛 Thank as always Summer!

1. You have 20,000 books on your TBR. How in the world do you decide what to read next?
Who doesn’t have that many books on their TBR? What I read next is almost entirely based on what books come in from on hold at the library–a problem I identified back in late May of this year and decided to do something about with my Tackling the TBR personal goal. I do have a beautiful TBR jar for all my purchased books when I manage to get a chance to pick something out (it’s colour coded and it is glorious) and thanks to my TBR challenge, I’ve been able to do that a lot more! Prior to my TBR jar I used to use a random number generator to pick from a list of 5-10 books I was in the mood to read.

2. You’re halfway through a book and you’re just not loving it. Do you quit or are you committed?
I actually have a 50 Page Rule when it comes to books: if I’m not loving a book and by the end of the first 50 pages, if I don’t care what happens next, I drop it! Most of the time these are books that cause my mind to wander while reading or even worse, cause me to NOT want to read! GASP! After reading and blogging for two years, I think I have a good handle on what I like and don’t so I rarely have to do this. More often than not, I will keep reading it. Sometimes I will book that book up at a later date if I think it was just my personal mood preventing me from liking it or the pressure to finish it before I return it to the library was stressing me out too much.

3. The end of the year is coming and you’re so close, but so far away on your Goodreads reading challenge. Do you try to catch up and how?
I’ve never had this problem. I’m constantly underestimating how many books I can read in a year. Take for example this year, I had completed my Goodreads goal by August!

But, if I did have this problem, I would read lots of novellas, join a few readathons and set aside some weekend days just for reading!

4. The covers of a series you love do. not. match. How do you cope?
Haha you know, this was never a problem until I started blogging and read about other people freaking out over this. I’m not really picky about hardcovers mixing with paperbacks (the frugal reader in me doesn’t mind so long as the artwork is the same). BUT, I recently bought two books I already owned to make them match the other books I have in the series. They were only a couple of dollars, I think I spent more to ship them! I only plan to do this if the price is right.

5. Everyone and their mother loves a book you really don’t like. Who do you bond with over shared feelings?
This happens a lot actually, as does the reverse. Part of the reason I started blogging was to have this outlet to share my feelings about books. No one I know really reads books like I do (though my best friend from university is pretty close!). For example, I was a huge Throne of Glass fan but totally thought it was an underdog when it was first published (maybe it was? I dunno because I wasn’t following blogs online when it first came out); so imagine my surprise when everyone starts to rave about it once I do start to blog! I’ve tried some groups on Goodreads but people don’t really discuss it

6. You’re reading a book and you are about to start crying in public. How do you deal?
I totally struggled with this at work the other day! I’m pretty good about holding back my emotions in public because I am very aware of where I am. But if I was alone in my room at home, full out sobs. #noshame

7. A sequel of a book you loved just came out, but you’ve forgotten a lot from the prior novel. Will you re-read the book? Skip the sequel? Try to find a synopsis on Goodreads?
Time for a shameless self plug! I actually have recaps for a lot of book on my blog for this very purpose! Because I read so many series and don’t have the time–nor the desire for some series–to reread all the books, I created a word document for myself that summarizes the key points of the book–especially the ending! I do this for all the sequels and I’ve even started to do it for romance novels that have sequel books with different leads just to keep my memory fresh.

But a helpful hint is that some series have great fan-run Wikia pages and even Wikipedia has detailed summaries for very popular novels!

8. You do not want anyone. ANYONE. borrowing your books. How do you politely tell people nope when they ask?
I actually don’t mind people boring my books. I don’t have a lot of physical books anymore so I suppose I am possessive of them (they are books I consider to be my favourites that I want to pass on to my kids one day). But I am also a firm believer in sharing the joy of reading with anyone who wants to read something and if borrowing my book will let them read, I’m all for it.

I just make sure to tell them to return it in the same condition when they are done AND TO BE SURE THEY RETURN IT!

9. You’ve picked up and put down 5 books in the last month. How do you get over your reading slump?
I had this problem at the start of July and it sucked! Nothing was wowing me and I hadn’t had a 5 star read in WEEKS! I got over that one by reading a sequel to a series by one of my favourite authors (FYI it was Empire of Night in the Age of Legends Trilogy by Kelley Armstrong and it was AMAZING!). It depends what type of slump I am in. Most of the time reading something I’ve been dying to read will work; other times, reading a favourite authors work will do the trick. Most of the time though, I good romance (usually New Adult) will make me happy again (unless I am in a slump from reading too many romance novels than a good dystiopian or high fantasy will work).

Can you tell that I am a mood reader yet?

10. There are so many new books coming out that you’re dying to read! How many do you actually buy?
I don’t by very many “new books”, I put them at hold on the library. I don’t reread a lot of books so I don’t see the purpose of buying them. Most of the time, if I really enjoy a book and think I will reread it once I have read it from the library, I will buy it later. I do buy lots of Kobo eBooks but mostly when there is a contest promotion so I get coupon codes. Again, I am a cheap person. So unless a book is under $3 when it comes out, I won’t buy it immediately. I’ll wait until I get a coupon or a sale or it drops in price.

11. After you’ve bought the new books you can’t wait to get to, how long do they sit on your shelf before you get to them?
I have books that have been on my shelf since 2009 if not a little sooner. I had been hoping to read them when I was home at my parents for the summer before I left for school but (as I write this, it is the first week of August) but that doesn’t look like it is going to happen. BUT, does it count if someone else has read them? I think my mom has read most of them 😉

Thanks again Summer!

Do we share any of the same problems? Tag yourself or comment below!